Contemplify – Details, episodes & analysis

"In Touch the Earth, Drew Jackson's poetry offers a word-weary world a new language of engagement, disruption, and insight. As with all great poetry, the words are spare, but the literary images loom large, creating indelible impressions on the reader. Like echoes that reverberate long after the first sound, the poems stay with you, they dance with your spirit. After reading the poem 'Shake the Dust,' I am still considering a much broader definition of power, one no longer confined to the monarchs, governments, and oppressors but with a conscience as sticky as cling wrap that refuses to allow its memories to be shaken loose. This collection is a meditative treasure."

— Barbara Holmes, author of Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church and Crisis Contemplation: Healing the Wounded Village

Drew Jackson is a poet, speaker, and public theologian. He is author of God Speaks Through Wombs: Poems on God’s Unexpected Coming and Touch the Earth: Poems on The Way. His work has been widely published. Drew received his B.A. in Political Science from the Univ. of Chicago and his M.A. in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. He currently works as the Director of Mission Integration for the Center for Action and Contemplation, and lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife and daughters.

In our conversation Drew and I talk about the seeds of poetry planted through the lyrical mastery of Nas as well as his immersion into sacred text, why Lucille Clifton’s poetry should explored by all, his mystical lineage and, and much more.

Visit Drew Jackson at drewejackson.com | IG: @d.jacksonpoetics

Tracy Cochran is a writer, meditation teacher, and editorial director of Parabola, an acclaimed quarterly magazine that draws on the world’s cultural and wisdom traditions to explore the questions that all humans share. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Psychology Today, O Magazine, and New York Magazine to name a few. Her latest publication is her book Presence: The Art of Being at Home in Yourself.

In our conversation Tracy and I talk about owning the gifts and limitations of our presence, her daughter’s precocious question about Thich Nhat Hahn, the Buddha’s grief, and so much more.

Visit Tracy Cochran at tracycochran.org | IG: @tracycochran_author

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Each solstice and equinox Contemplify offers a public Lo-Fi & Hushed contemplative practice session for both free and supporting subscribers of the Non-Required Reading List. For those interested, go tell it on the mountain…

The third week of Advent salted on joy. Not because of the circumstances, but despite them. The work remains to create the conditions for the gift of joy to emerge. The candlelight had built around the Advent wreath and solstice was breaking into a light jog. The arms of Advent and winter solstice were outstretched, reaching towards embrace. We were so close to completing the circle. Our own sweet darkness yields in a protected and patient trust. Let us welcome the gift.

Wendell Berry’s “To Know the Dark” was the vessel for the Winter Solstice Lo-Fi & Hushed Practice Session. You can follow the link to peek at the entire poem.

Welcome this dark knowing into practice.
May we show up with expectation under its seamless cloak.
Advent rejoices within the crackles of reality.
Let us slow our pace to hear this joyful song.

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You know that old story of a successful criminal defense lawyer who quits practicing law to start a bean to bar chocolate factory? Yeah...it’s a new story for me too. But that is the story of Shawn Askinosie. Shawn is a remarkable human being. Not because Oprah Magazine named him “One of 15 Guys Who Are Saving the World” or because Forbes named his small batch, award winning chocolate factory, Askinosie Chocolate ‘One of the 25 Best Small Companies in America’ (both of which are true by the way). It’s because Shawn holds a contemplative vision for his life and business to create a more just and loving world.

Askinosie Chocolate is a direct trade business that profit shares with their partners, the cocoa farmers, from around the world. Shawn and his team are recasting how a profitable business can operate in the world with integrity, passion and humility. In this conversation you will get a taste for Shawn’s values as he shares about his experience as a Family Brother at Assumption Abbey, how he recognizes the relationship between joy and sorrow, the lasting impact of his 6th grade teacher, why he wanted Askinosie Chocolate to be direct trade, profit sharing and open book management from its inception,... and what the hell he means by the phrase, ‘It not about the chocolate, it’s about the chocolate.

This is just a taste of Shawn’s deeply empowering book, Meaningful Work: A Quest to Do Great Business, Find Your Calling, and Feed Your Soul. You can buy the book, Meaningful Work, wherever beautiful books are sold.

To learn more about Shawn visit (and order chocolate) at askinosie.com.  

“The Sunday Letters are always a thoughtful and welcome stop during my week. You get a moment to pause, to consider and to reflect … and Jana often leaves you with a question to keep you thinking long after you’ve finished reading. I love these letters and find myself forwarding them regularly to friends and family.”

- Reader, The Sunday Letters

Have you ever wanted to be a writer? Maybe the type of writer with an acute eye for detail that maintains a deep connection with your readers. This is how I would describe the curator and writer of The Sunday Letters, Jana Marie. The Sunday Letters is a weekly newsletter on contemplative thinking. I don’t know about you, but Sundays continue to hold the air of naps, spiritual questions, and Swedish pancakes.This is how Jana describes Sundays - ‘In their characteristically gentle way, Sundays present us with what is so often a much-needed opportunity for stillness. A time to reconnect and re-center, they allow us the space to check in with both ourselves and others.’  It is from this still space that The Sunday Letters have been written by Jana these past 3 years. She has readers spanning the globe, one of which is this lowly podcast host.

In this exchange you were learn how Jana dropped out of business school to discover a path that felt more akin to her way of being in the world, how the Stoic philosopher Seneca has been shaping her view of reality, and how The Sunday Letters came to be in the world.

You can sign up for The Sunday Letters at thesundayletters.com.

Learn more about Jana Marie at jmarie.ca or find her on Instagram @janajm. 

Thich Nhat Hahn is a world renowned Zen Master, author of more than a 100 books and in my opinion, a winsome meditative stroller. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. Then in 1982, Thich Nhat Hahn founded a community called Plum Village in the south of France. In 2008, a young man was ordained a monk at Plum Village. The young man’s brother is a filmmaker, Max Pugh, who was in attendance reflected upon this experience of bearing witness to his brother’s ordination as a Buddhist monk.

Later, Max Pugh would Direct and Produce the film Walk With Me: A Journey Into Mindfulness Featuring Thich Nhat Hahn. Max has crafted a remarkably meditative film about the Plum Village that his brother joined. In our conversation, Max shares how he was asked to make a rock and roll road documentary about Plum Village without the sex and drugs, how the ringing of chimes can break the unconscious noise, and what Thich Nhat Hahn taught him about being a parent. You can learn more about Max at maxpugh.com, walkwithmefilm.com or on Instagram @maxpugh1

Ali Kirkpatrick is a writer, speaker, retreat leader, part-time university instructor and business owner. But if i was going to name her post in the world it would be as an ambassador of love.

Ali is taking over reins as host for Contemplify for 5 episodes in this miniseries called, Practice Without Preaching: Creating a Family Spirituality. The central beauty of this mini-series is that it holds the potential for you to reflect, question, celebrate and imagine how your family explores the spiritual terrain. Like all authentic explorations you might be challenged by what you discover...rest assured that Ali is a trustworthy guide and fellow traveler.

This is episode 5 of Practice Without Preaching: Creating a Family Spirituality.

Ali Kirkpatrick is a writer, speaker, retreat leader, part-time university instructor and business owner. But if i was going to name her post in the world it would be as an ambassador of love.

Ali is taking over reins as host for Contemplify for 5 episodes in this miniseries called, Practice Without Preaching: Creating a Family Spirituality. The central beauty of this mini-series is that it holds the potential for you to reflect, question, celebrate and imagine how your family explores the spiritual terrain. Like all authentic explorations you might be challenged by what you discover...rest assured that Ali is a trustworthy guide and fellow traveler.

This is episode 4 of Practice Without Preaching: Creating a Family Spirituality.

Ali Kirkpatrick is a writer, speaker, retreat leader, part-time university instructor and business owner. But if i was going to name her post in the world it would be as an ambassador of love.

Ali is taking over reins as host for Contemplify for 5 episodes in this miniseries called, Practice Without Preaching: Creating a Family Spirituality. The central beauty of this mini-series is that it holds the potential for you to reflect, question, celebrate and imagine how your family explores the spiritual terrain. Like all authentic explorations you might be challenged by what you discover...rest assured that Ali is a trustworthy guide and fellow traveler.

This is episode 3 of Practice Without Preaching: Creating a Family Spirituality.

Ali Kirkpatrick is a writer, speaker, retreat leader, part-time university instructor and business owner. But if i was going to name her post in the world it would be as an ambassador of love.

Ali is taking over reins as host for Contemplify for 5 episodes in this miniseries called, Practice Without Preaching: Creating a Family Spirituality. The central beauty of this mini-series is that it holds the potential for you to reflect, question, celebrate and imagine how your family explores the spiritual terrain. Like all authentic explorations you might be challenged by what you discover...rest assured that Ali is a trustworthy guide and fellow traveler.

This is episode 2 of Practice Without Preaching: Creating a Family Spirituality.